3-Minute Interview: Guadalupe Rivera Marín

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The daughter of Mexican muralist Diego Rivera will speak at the Commonwealth Club tonight about how art and culture can transcend borders. A former member of the Mexican Congress, Rivera Marin is also working on a children’s book about her father.

Your discussion at the Commonwealth Club is focused on breaking down borders. What does that mean to you? One of things I will talk about at the Commonwealth Club is my father’s vision of a greater America. He always believed in a relationship between the two borders of our countries. Historically, people sought out the difference between the United States and the people of tropical Mexico. But my father believed, and I believe now, that American and Mexican lives are greatly improved when they integrate into each other’s cultures.

What spurred your involvement in politics? I was always very interested in the poverty of the people in Mexico. My father pointed out to me the social differences between rural people and they way we lived. So when I was very little, I decided that being a congresswoman would be the best way to help people.

What is the theme of the new children’s book you’re writing about your dad? My father loved children, and I’m telling that story. Every week before Christmas, during a traditional Mexican time of celebration, my father would invite all the children from the neighboring areas over to our house to celebrate.

Your father painted a famous mural at San Francisco City College. What are your memories of San Francisco? I try to come to San Francisco as many times as possible. I very much like San Francisco. I consider it very beautiful.